The Indie Film Camera Package Checklist for a Brooklyn Shoot

Your first narrative short is greenlit, the Bushwick loft is locked for a weekend, and now you have to figure out what actually goes on the truck. The gap between a shot list and a working camera package is where a lot of first-time directors get burned — not because they forget the camera, but because they forget the cards, the V-mounts, the sandbags, and the 25-foot stinger that keeps a light from dying mid-take.

This is a department-by-department checklist built around a real NYC inventory. Every line item below maps to something you can actually reserve on Brainzap's rental catalog, so you can read the list, build a cart, and walk into your Brooklyn shoot with a complete package instead of a panicked B&H run the morning of.

Start With the Body: Pick One Camera Platform

Before anything else, commit to a single camera so every downstream choice — mounts, media, power, monitoring — lines up. Brainzap's camera packages are built as complete kits, not bare bodies, which matters more than it sounds when you are new to ownership of a shoot.

The workhorse: Sony FX6

For most Brooklyn indie work, the Sony FX6 + FX3 Cinema Camera Package ($175/day) is the sweet spot. It is full-frame, shoots beautifully in the low light you will absolutely hit in a tenement apartment or a night exterior under the J train, and the kit already includes the Tilta cage, V-mount and NP-FZ100 batteries, a Dolgin 4-bay charger, CFexpress and SD media, a card reader, and a Pelican case. Running two bodies lets you grab coverage fast on a short schedule.

The lean A-cam: Sony FX3

If your day rate is tight or you are a one-person camera department, the standalone Sony FX3 ($75/day) gives you the same sensor in a smaller, gimbal-friendly body with batteries, media, and a top handle included. For bigger-budget genre work, the 2x RED EPIC-W HELIUM 8K package is also on the shelf.

Checklist: camera body, cage/top handle, batteries + charger, media + card reader, transport case. On a Brainzap camera kit, all five are already in the box.

Glass: Choose a Lens Strategy, Not Just a Lens

Lenses define the look more than the body does. Decide early between zooms (fast, flexible, fewer lens swaps in a cramped apartment) and primes (sharper character, more deliberate). Browse the full lens catalog and pick a strategy that fits your schedule.

Primes for character

The Leica Summicron-C 6-Lens Prime Set (18/25/35/50/75/100mm, $600/day) is the package to reach for when the look is the point — a fitted case, a clean T2.0 family, and a focal range that covers a whole short. If you only need a couple, the primes also rent individually at $135/day each.

Don't forget the support that makes glass usable

The most-skipped line item on a first package: the Matte Box, Filter & Follow-Focus Package ($45/day). It bundles an O'Connor matte box, 4x5.65 Black Pro-Mist and ND filter sets, a Bartech wireless follow focus, a 15mm bridgeplate, and EF-to-E / EF-to-PL adapters. Without it, you have no way to cut a hot Brooklyn window or pull focus cleanly — the difference between footage that looks shot and footage that looks filmed.

Monitoring: Everyone Needs to See the Frame

On a real set the director, the focus puller, and the DP are not all crowded around a tiny camera screen. Pull from the monitoring category so the room can actually see what you are shooting.

• On-camera monitor: the SmallHD DP7-PRO 7-inch ($20/day) gives the operator a real image with a battery plate and arm included.
• Director's monitor / wireless video: the Paralinx Arrow+ Wireless Video Kit ($25/day) sends the frame to a second monitor across the room — essential when you are shooting in a tight apartment and video village is out in the hallway.

Checklist: one on-camera monitor, one wireless TX/RX link, plus batteries and arms (included on both kits above).

Support and Movement: Lock It Off or Move It Right

Handheld is a choice, not a default. Most of your setups want a solid head and sticks, and a good fluid head is something you feel in every pan. Start in the movement & support category.

• Sticks: the O'Connor 1030D Fluid Head Tripod System ($110/day) is a serious cinema head with sticks and spreader — buttery pans and tilts that a photo tripod can't touch.
• A move: the Dana Dolly Kit ($55/day) with legs, track, and speed-rail clamps gives you a controlled dolly move on a sidewalk or hallway floor without a grip crew.
• Bodyweight / run-and-gun: an Easyrig 3 ($65/day) saves your spine on long handheld days, and a DJI Ronin or Freefly MoVI Pro is on the shelf for gimbal work.

Audio: The Half of Film People Watch With Their Ears

An indie film with bad sound looks amateur no matter how good the image is. Even if you have a dedicated sound mixer bringing their own bag, confirm the chain from the audio category.

• Recorder: the Sound Devices 702 Field Recorder ($30/day) ships with MDR-7506 headphones and an Orca bag.
• Boom: the Sennheiser MKE 600 Shotgun Kit ($10/day) includes a K-Tek boompole, an Auray blimp/windshield (you will want it for any Brooklyn exterior), and a boom stand.
• Lavs: the Sennheiser EW 100 G2 Wireless Lav Kit ($10/day) even includes an RF Explorer scanner — genuinely useful in NYC, where the wireless spectrum is crowded and frequencies drift.

Lighting, Grip and Expendables: The Boring Stuff That Saves the Day

This is the section first-timers underestimate and crews never do. A single light without stands, flags, and stingers is just an expensive paperweight.

One key light to start

The ARRI SkyPanel S60-C ($75/day) is the standard soft, color-tunable LED key and ships with a Chimera softbox. Browse the rest of the lighting category for fresnels, Kino Flos, and an HMI for daylight windows.

Grip and expendables — the unsung heroes

From the grip category, build these in now:

• C-Stands & Grip Heads Package ($25/day) — C-stands, arms, gobo heads, 10/20/25 lb sandbags, and a step ladder.
• Power Distro & Stingers ($25/day) — 10/25/100 ft stingers and a current tap, because that Brooklyn loft has exactly two working outlets.
• Apple Box Set ($5/day) and Clamps & Grip Expendables ($5/day) — the cheapest lines on the invoice and the ones you reach for hourly.